Roofs, parks, porticoes, and even the seawall are becoming makeshift bedrooms for Cubans seeking to escape the heat and get a few hours of sleep during the prolonged blackouts affecting Havana.
The agency AFP documented this reality in a report that showcased how numerous people leave their homes at night, where the fans remain still due to the lack of electricity, in search of a refreshing breeze outdoors.
One of them is Alexis Miján, a 59-year-old Cuban who started going up to the rooftop of his building every night with his blind son after power outages worsened earlier this year.
The makeshift solution ended up spreading among their neighbors: "Almost the entire building came over here," Miján told AFP while preparing the space where he would sleep with a sheet and pillows.
As the months went by, and faced with an energy crisis that shows no signs of improvement, the rooftop essentially turned into a communal bedroom.
Among water tanks, pipes, and clotheslines, each family has carved out their own space to spend the night: "Here we have divided up the little pieces," explained the distressed father with words that reflect deep resignation.
Every afternoon, Miján and his son wait for the sun to set to bring what they need for sleeping up to the roof, and at dawn, they gather their belongings once again before starting their daily routine.
His drama adds another layer: he was a Sociology professor but, like many other university graduates, he left the profession in search of better income and currently works as a storekeeper.
In light of the worsening electrical situation, he is also not optimistic about a possible solution: «I don't see an end to this», he said, in a devastating statement that encapsulates the hopelessness with which many Cubans confront a crisis that seems to have no way out.
The rooftop where this family sleeps is far from being an isolated case.
The agency AFP reported that in Havana there are people who spend nights on cardboard, mattresses, or directly on the ground in public spaces due to the inability to rest inside homes suffocated by the heat.
The Havana waterfront is one of the most prominent images of this phenomenon: dozens of people settle on the wall and pavement at night to enjoy the sea breeze, accompanied by sheets, backpacks, and other belongings.
The scene had already been documented in early August by the Associated Press agency, following another collapse of the National Electric Power System.
Several residents of Havana spent the night on the concrete of the Malecón seeking relief from the heat and the lack of fans and air conditioning.
Moreover, the problem is not limited to the iconic promenade.
Days later, Cubans were seen spending the night on mattresses in front of the University of Havana, another indication of how the lack of electricity is forcing people out of their homes in an attempt to rest.
However, rooftops had already been used as shelters long before those images.
At the beginning of July, a Cuban mother reported that she had been sleeping with her family on the roof of their house for over a week, where her daughter was suffering from mosquito bites while power outages also made it difficult to access water.
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